Mid-Atlantic MilAir 2024

Mark

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139.700 (AM) - BLACKJACK-1 in DC area working PANTHER (assuming this is JADOC Ground Station) SPARKLE system testing

There's a frequency: 139.150 Joint Air Defense Operations Center (JADOC) Bolling AFB Wash DC-Sparkle System;
that's also shared with DC ANG 121st FS and NJ ANG but I've never heard any Sparkle system related activity on it.

I've been trying to find a good explanation of what the Sparkle system does. Anyone?
I understood Sparkle to be an aircraft warning system that uses bright laser strobe light type colors red and green from ground station
to warn off small low flying aircraft.. Lights up your cockpit without really blinding you.Gets your attention quickly.
I imagine they test it out at times on local DC practice intercepts.. Light up a Cessna CAP plane perhaps.
 

RaleighGuy

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139.700 (AM) - BLACKJACK-1 in DC area working PANTHER (assuming this is JADOC Ground Station) SPARKLE system testing

There's a frequency: 139.150 Joint Air Defense Operations Center (JADOC) Bolling AFB Wash DC-Sparkle System;
that's also shared with DC ANG 121st FS and NJ ANG but I've never heard any Sparkle system related activity on it.

I've been trying to find a good explanation of what the Sparkle system does. Anyone?


As @Mark said
 
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RaleighGuy

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POTUS to Maryland tomorrow, M1 to and from PGCo

12:30 PM THE PRESIDENT departs the White House en route to Prince George’s County, Maryland
12:40 PM THE PRESIDENT arrives in Prince George’s County, Maryland
3:40 PM THE PRESIDENT departs Prince George’s County, Maryland en route to the White House
3:50 PM THE PRESIDENT arrives at the White House South Lawn
 

TerryPavlick

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First time I ever heard DEVIL-11 do a TFR intercept.. Maybe NOBLE's were not up yet?
Usually A/C guys use COSMIK callsign on NORAD intercepts. Not sure how long ago this was.

This is wrong - N28PA was intercepted by the Noble flight not the Devil flight - Devil flight was headed the opposite direction and was a flight of four.. At 1:24 into the recording the word "intercepting" is show in the video but the actual term was "searching". The Devil flight was notified of the traffic (N28PA) so they could avoid same. Basically they were searching for N28PA and that is why they stayed at 2500' to avoid the other aircraft that was at 2000'. The jet the pilot called out as flying close to him was a Noble F16 - the ACY F16 were already north of the intercept point by Noble since they were flying north to Atlantic City RTB as a four ship.

Devil did not intercept the aircraft they simply were having the traffic pointed out to them for conflict avoidance by ACY radar. Noble flight did the intercept from the CAP.
 

Mark

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This is wrong - N28PA was intercepted by the Noble flight not the Devil flight - Devil flight was headed the opposite direction and was a flight of four.. At 1:24 into the recording the word "intercepting" is show in the video but the actual term was "searching". The Devil flight was notified of the traffic (N28PA) so they could avoid same. Basically they were searching for N28PA and that is why they stayed at 2500' to avoid the other aircraft that was at 2000'. The jet the pilot called out as flying close to him was a Noble F16 - the ACY F16 were already north of the intercept point by Noble since they were flying north to Atlantic City RTB as a four ship.

Devil did not intercept the aircraft they simply were having the traffic pointed out to them for conflict avoidance by ACY radar. Noble flight did the intercept from the CAP.
Yeah heard that flight of four in tape..Was wondering about that.. guess video creator was not monitoring Norad freqs as well.. Still like pilots reply as why is their fighter jet near me?
 
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RaleighGuy

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Within past hour, Milair emergency at RDU airport, an Apache helo landed after RDU CFR Dispatch declared an alert 3. Smoke in cockpit, appears fire put out by air crew with fire extinguisher after emergency landing. Unsure is it was Zeus 13, 22-03455, AE74E2 or Zeus14, 21-03416, AE748D, though I think it was latter. Airport CFR and Wake Co Fire units dispatched.

Statement from NC National Guard

On August 14, 2024, at approximately 4:45 pm, a flight of two AH64E Apache helicopters, from the North Carolina Army National Guard were departing from the Army Aviation Support Facility (AASF) located at 2050 National Guard Drive, Morrisville NC 27560 on a routine training flight. At approximately 5 PM, one of the helicopters had indications of a generator failure and detected the faint smell of smoke in the crew station/cockpit. The crew executed the standard operating procedure for a precautionary landing on the grass strip adjacent to runway 32 at Raleigh Airport. The aircraft was recovered back to the AASF parking ramp after Raleigh Crash Rescue assessed the situation and determined that there was no fire. The crew on board the helicopter sustained no injuries. The helicopter generator is being replaced and the incident is under investigation.
 

mdmonitor

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1425- T-38s (4 X Scotch) out in W386. Freqs: 233.225/238.1. One of the Scotches has some acft issue and is setting up chase w/wingman for straight in approach to Langley. Scotch 01 advises Giantkiller that he is declaring an IFE and that he is RTB w/wingman.

1435- Drago 51 (unid) working Potomac (270.275)
 
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